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Tier 3 · vertical & regionalfull biography
Harold Budd
Person · male · United States · Los Angeles · born 1936 · died 2020 · recording since 1971
American musician (1936–2020)
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Also known as Harold Montgomery Budd · 哈罗德·巴德
Timeline
35 events▣ Album 32◦ Birth 1★ Debut release 1† Death 1
1930s
1970s
· Debut release
Debut release: The Oak of the Golden Dreams
First documented Album in the MusicBrainz discography.
source: musicbrainz
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Biography
English biography1,528 words · 7 sectionssource: wikipedia-en · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1372886566
Biography
Harold Montgomory Budd (May 24, 1936 – December 8, 2020) was an American composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the Mojave Desert, he became a respected composer in the minimal music and avant-garde scene of Southern California in the late 1960s, and later became better known for his work with figures such as Brian Eno and Robin Guthrie. Budd developed what he called a "soft pedal" technique for playing piano, with use of slow playing and prominent sustain.
Early life
Budd was born on May 24, 1936, in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in Victorville, on the southwestern edge of the Mojave Desert.
Harold was only 13 when his father died, and soon his family fell out of their comfortable middle class existence. He was sent up to the desert to live with friends and relatives as often as possible, but the reality in Los Angeles was growing up in a tough neighborhood, and as the oldest son, being the man of the house. During this time Black culture had an enormous impact on Harold, especially jazz music and bebop, and he could be found in his teenage years playing drums in bars and jazz clubs in south-central Los Angeles.
Drafted into the United States Army, he joined the regimental band where he played drums at Presidio of Monterey (POM). Jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler was drafted at the same time and was also a member of the band. Budd joined him in gigs around the Monterey area. Budd's experience of the Army made him determined to get an education.
Education, academic career and early works
Budd attended high school at Los Angeles High School, but did not graduate. He worked as "everything from cowboy to mailman," including a stint at Douglas Aircraft Company. At the age of 21, he left Douglas, and briefly moved to San Francisco. While there, he worked at Gump's. Unable to continue living in San Francisco, Budd returned to Los Angeles, and enrolled in an architecture course at Los Angeles City College. He switched to a course in harmony and renaissance counterpoint and his musical talent was spotted by a teacher who encouraged him to compose. He began to attend performances by artists like Chet Baker and Pharoah Sanders.
“From that moment on,” he recalls, “I had an insatiable appetite. Harmony, counterpoint, Renaissance music: I really heard it for the first time.”
Budd's career as a composer began in 1962. In the following years, he gained a notable reputation in the local avant-garde community. Budd studied music at California State University, Northridge, under Gerald Strang (a protégé of Arnold Schoenberg) and Aurelio de la Vega. He graduated from California State University, Northridge, and then went on full scholarship to the University of Southern California, under the tutelage of Ingolf Dahl, graduating in 1966. Budd's work of this period was primarily minimalist drone music influenced by John Cage and Morton Feldman, as well as the abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko, with whom he corresponded.
After completing his degree in composition in 1969, Budd took up a teaching position at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1970, he released his first piece, The Oak of the Golden Dreams, which he recorded with an early model Buchla modular synthesizer at the institute.
At the encouragement of Brian Eno and Marion Brown, he left CalArts for London. Soon afterwards, Budd gave up composition, disgusted by the "academic pyrotechnics" of the avant-garde community.
In London, he found his composing community of Eno, Gavin Bryars, Michael Nyman, and the members of the Cocteau Twins.
In 2004, Budd and his wife moved to Monument House in Joshua Tree, California.
Composer and recording artist
The road from my first colored graph piece in 1962 to my renunciation of composing in 1970 to my resurfacing as a composer in 1972 was a process of trying out an idea and when it was obviously successful abandoning it. The early graph piece was followed by the Rothko orchestra work, the pieces for Source Magazine, the Feldman-derived chamber works, the pieces typed out or written in longhand, the out-and-out conceptual works among other things, and the model drone works (which include the sax and organ Coeur d'Orr and The Oak of the Golden Dreams, the latter based on the Balinese 'Slendro' scale which scale I used again 18 years later on 'The Real Dream of Sails').
In 1972, while still retaining his teaching career at the California Institute of the Arts, he resurfaced as a composer. Spanning from 1972 to 1975, he created four individual works under the collective title The Pavilion of Dreams. The style of these works was an unusual blend of popular jazz and the avant-garde. His 1972 work Madrigals of the Rose Angel was sent to English composer Gavin Bryars who passed it on to Brian Eno. Eno contacted Budd and brought him to London to record for his Obscure Records label.
I owe Eno everything, OK? That's the end of that... I was plucked from the tree, and suddenly I had flowered. I was just waiting. I couldn't do it on my own. I didn't know anything.
Budd resigned from the institute in 1976 and began recording his new compositions, produced by Eno. Two years later, Harold Budd's debut album, The Pavilion of Dreams
The Pavilion of DreamsSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracksA1Bismillahi ’Rrahman ’Rrahim18:25A2Two Songs: Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord / Butterfly Sunday6:26B1Madrigals of the Rose Angel: Rosetti Noise / The Crystal Garden and a Coda14:20B2Juno8:26 (1978), was released. The first performance of the piece was at a Franciscan church in California conducted by Daniel Lentz."
The work with Eno led Budd to shift his focus to studio-led projects, characterised by use of synthesisers and electronic treatments, often collaborating with other musicians. Budd developed a style of piano playing he deemed "soft pedal," which can be described as slow and sustained. While he is often placed in the Ambient category, he emphatically declared that he was not an Ambient artist, and felt that he got "kidnapped" into the category.
His two collaborations with Eno, Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror in 1980 and The Pearl in 1984, established his trademark atmospheric piano style. On Lovely Thunder, he introduced subtle electronic textures. His thematic 2000 release The Room saw a return to a more minimalist approach. In 2003, Daniel Lanois, a producer for U2 and Bob Dylan, and occasional collaborator with Brian Eno, recorded an impromptu performance of Budd playing the piano in his Los Angeles living room, unaware; it was released in 2005 as the album La Bella Vista
La Bella VistaSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Bell Tower2:012Campanile3:453The Rose3:264Stones2:565Her Face3:296Children’s Game Beyond Our Reach2:107The Avenue3:198Bird Charmer2:579Other Flowers4:0610Il Leopardo Delle Nevi10:55.
He had a long-running collaboration with guitarist Robin Guthrie. They worked together initially when Budd worked with Guthrie's band Cocteau Twins on their 1985 collaboration The Moon and the Melodies. The record was released by 4AD under all the collaborator's names (rather than being a Cocteau Twins/Harold Budd record), with Budd being listed first as it was an alphabetical listing. In November 1986, the record charted on the UK Top 75 album chart, spending a week at number 46. Budd and Guthrie subsequently released several albums together, including two soundtracks to the Gregg Araki films Mysterious Skin
Mysterious SkinSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Neil’s Theme2:152The Memories Returning2:083Snowfall6:304Neil’s Farewell2:325Childhood Lost2:386Halloween3:197A Silhouette Approaches2:298Goodbye to Wendy2:469Brian’s Nightmare / The Unknown, Part One4:0410Twilight3:4711The Unknown, Part Two2:1112The Discovery2:2713Loitering3:3814The Writing on the Wall1:5115One True Love2:32 (2004) and White Bird in a Blizzard (2014), with the last, 2020's Another Flower, recorded in 2013 but only released four days before Budd's death.
Budd also collaborated with Andy Partridge of XTC on the album Through the Hill
Through the HillSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1Hand 191:212Through the Hill4:053Great Valley of Gongs3:074Western Island of Apples3:035Anima Mundi4:446Hand 203:007The Place of Odd Glances3:188Well for the Sweat of the Moon3:259Tenochtitlán’s Numberless Bridges3:5510Ceramic Avenue5:1811Hand 211:5312Missing Pieces to the Game of Salt and Onyx6:0013Mantle of Peacock Bones2:0714Bronze Coins Showing Genitals4:1815Bearded Aphrodite2:3416Hand 222:23 (1994), John Foxx on the album Translucence/Drift Music (2003) and work with Jah Wobble on the Solaris concert and live album in 2002.
He composed music for the score of the 2020 miniseries I Know This Much Is True.
Reception
Brian Eno called Budd "a great abstract painter trapped in the body of a musician".
The Guardian said, "The core Budd sound of yearning piano motifs and reverberation-laden impressionism is often called minimalism, but compared with the cyclical craft of Steve Reich and early Philip Glass, his low-key, expansive forays felt deftly maximalist. This has made Budd's craft synonymous with the dreamworld. An heir to Satie and Debussy, his music was treated and poetic, never kneejerk nor incautious."
Death
Budd was undergoing therapy at a short-term rehabilitation facility after suffering a stroke on November 11, 2020. It was there he contracted COVID-19 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in California. He died from complications of the virus at a hospital in Arcadia on December 8, 2020. He was 84.
Selected discography
Albums
The Pavilion of Dreams (1978)
The Serpent (In Quicksilver) (1981)
Abandoned Cities (1984)
Lovely Thunder (1986)
The White Arcades (1988)
Agua (1995) (Live)
Luxa (1996)
The Room (2000)
La Bella Vista (2003)
Avalon Sutra / As Long as I Can Hold My Breath (2004)
Perhaps (2007) (Live)
In The Mist (2011)
Bandits of Stature (2012)
Jane 1-11 (2013)
Jane 12-21 (2014)
I Know This Much Is True (2020) (Film score)
Collaborations
Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (1980) (with Brian Eno)
The Pearl (1984) (with Brian Eno)
The Moon and the Melodies (1986) (with Cocteau Twins)
By the Dawn's Early Light (1991) (with Bill Nelson, B. J. Cole, Susan Allen)
Music for 3 Pianos (1992) (with Ruben Garcia and Daniel Lentz.)
Through the Hill (1994) (with Andy Partridge)
She is a Phantom (1994) (with Zeitgeist) (Live)
Translucence/Drift Music (2003) (with John Foxx)
Mysterious Skin – Music from the Film (2005) (with Robin Guthrie)
White Bird in a Blizzard (2014) (with Robin Guthrie)
Another Flower (2020) (with Robin Guthrie)
Discography & profile
Normalised profile
Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 21 | 82.6th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 46 | 93.7th |
| Studio albums | 32 | 98.4th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 35 | 97.5th |
| Recording span (years) | 49 | 90th |
| Genres | 8 | 94.5th |
Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.
Discography (46 release groups · 32 studio albums)
Albums · 32
1971 · studio album
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Tracklist · 2 tracks · 38:30
AThe Oak of the Golden Dreams18:44BCoeur d’orr19:461978 · studio album
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Tracklist · 4 tracks · 47:37
A1Bismillahi ’Rrahman ’Rrahim18:25A2Two Songs: Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord / Butterfly Sunday6:26B1Madrigals of the Rose Angel: Rosetti Noise / The Crystal Garden and a Coda14:20B2Juno8:261984 · studio album
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Tracklist · 2 tracks · 43:00
A1Dark Star19:55B1Abandoned Cities23:051986 · studio album
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Tracklist · 6 tracks · 42:09
A1The Gunfighter3:10A2Sandtreader5:28A3Ice Floes In Eden3:20A4Olancha Farewell2:15A5Flowered Knife Shadows (For Simon Raymonde)7:11BGypsy Violin20:451986 · studio album
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Tracklist · 8 tracks · 37:10
1Sea, Swallow Me3:092Memory Gongs7:253Why Do You Love Me?4:514Eyes Are Mosaics4:095She Will Destroy You4:136The Ghost Has No Home7:337Bloody and Blunt2:128Ooze Out and Away, Onehow3:381988 · studio album
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Tracklist · 9 tracks · 41:55
1The White Arcades4:442Balthus Bemused by Color5:173The Child With a Lion6:394The Real Dream of Sails6:085Algebra of Darkness6:336Totems of the Red-Sleeved Warrior3:237The Room3:078Coyote2:459The Kiss3:191991 · studio album
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Tracklist · 18 tracks · 54:18
1Poem: Aztec Hotel1:342Boy About 105:003Arcadia2:014Dead Horse Alive With Flies3:415The Photo of Santiago McKinn6:566The Corpse at the Shooting Gallery2:577Albion Farewell (Homage to Delius, for Gavin Bryars)2:398Poem: Distant Lights of Olancha Recede1:289Down the Slopes to the Meadow (For Ruben Garcia)7:3910She Dances by the Light of the Silvery Moon2:1311Blind Bird2:0412Saint's Name Spoken3:5913The Place of Dead Roads4:5014A Child in a Sylvan Field3:3715Poem: Boy About 101:1916Poem: Wings0:3717Poem: No Name0:5518Poem: Advent0:491992 · studio album
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Tracklist · 6 tracks · 21:50
1Pulse Pause Repeat4:162La Muchacha de los Sueños Dorados4:383Iris2:384Somos Tres2:335The Messenger3:066La Casa Bruja4:391994 · studio album
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Tracklist · 18 tracks · 47:38
1Breathless… I1:392Pantomime…2:573The False Attribution…1:364Nearly Awakened…4:225Tiny Hands, Big Ideas.2:196Emboldened / My Dreams Perish.2:227A Lazy Smile…2:018I Blink and She’s Gone.2:129We Step Across…0:4510Like Perfume…3:2811Handsome. The Spineless…2:4412Laurel.2:1613She’s by the Window.2:2314Angels Alight…2:3815She Has the Glassy…3:0116Breathless… II1:2317And Then I Alone Am Alone.4:5018In Delius’ Sleep4:421994 · studio album
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Tracklist · 16 tracks · 54:31
1Hand 191:212Through the Hill4:053Great Valley of Gongs3:074Western Island of Apples3:035Anima Mundi4:446Hand 203:007The Place of Odd Glances3:188Well for the Sweat of the Moon3:259Tenochtitlán’s Numberless Bridges3:5510Ceramic Avenue5:1811Hand 211:5312Missing Pieces to the Game of Salt and Onyx6:0013Mantle of Peacock Bones2:0714Bronze Coins Showing Genitals4:1815Bearded Aphrodite2:3416Hand 222:231995 · studio album
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Tracklist · 11 tracks · 1:01:39
1Pandas in Tandem5:502You and Me Against the Sky4:143And Then She Stepped Aside5:024Around the Corner From Everywhere4:555Gorgon's Anxious Pansy5:456Johnny Cake3:527Reflected in the Eye of a Dragon Fly4:178As Fast as I Could Look Away She Was Still There5:209Autre Django4:5610The Aperture11:1111The Light Gave Us Away6:171996 · studio album
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Tracklist · 16 tracks · 1:02:29
1Niki D.6:302A Sidelong Glance From My Round Nefertiti3:133Agnes Martin3:524Anish Kapoor2:595Paul McCarthy7:146Serge Poliakoff3:087Djinn0:508Porphyry0:459How Dark the Response to Our Slipping Away0:4810Nove Alberi6:0011Chet7:1312Mandan3:4013Feral4:1114Grace5:1815Marion Brown (Sweet Earth Flying)2:5116Steven Brown (Pleasure)3:57Walk Into My Voice (American Beat Poetry)
1998 · studio album
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Tracklist · 33 tracks · 49:46
1Radiant Opal2:042Becoming Visible4:003Beyond This Veil of Crystal Rails3:254To Begin Then Not Now1:095Interlude 10:486Harlow and the Kid3:217Kiss0:218Revelation0:179Note0:3110Sparrow0:2611Interlude 20:3912Do I Not Deal With Angels1:3913Be Music, Night1:4014The Sea Is Awash With Roses1:5915This Room Has Mystery Like a Trance1:1516Fall of the Evening Star1:5817Beautiful You Are1:2018Interlude 30:4019Neon Thunder Dreams (For Philip Lamantia)6:0420Interlude 40:5721Cancion1:0722Talk in the Dark1:3723Postcard0:5724Interlude 50:4925Dove Sta Amore0:4426Peacocks Walked1:1227The Wounded Wilderness of Morris Graves2:2928Interlude 61:0029Long-Stemmed1:0830Amaryllis0:4931Interlude 70:4732To Begin Then Not Now (reprise, alternate mix)1:1633Postlude1:182000 · studio album
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Tracklist · 13 tracks · 54:56
1The Room of Ancillary Dreams6:082The Room of Oracles4:463The Room of Stairs5:214The Room of Corners5:065The Room Alight4:416The Candied Room3:417The Room of Mirrors7:078The Room Obscured1:049The Room of Forgotten Children2:1610The Room of Accidental Geometry3:2511The Room of Secondary Light4:3912The Flowered Room4:2613The Room2:162003 · studio album
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Tracklist · 27 tracks · 1:40:15
Disc 11Subtext6:002Spoken Roses6:203Momentary Architecture1:404Adult3:045Long Light3:546A Change in the Weather2:427Here and Now3:598Almost Overlooked2:319Implicit5:2610Raindust7:0911Missing Person1:3612You Again3:24Disc 21Sunlit Silhouette3:152The Other Room1:573Some Way Through All the Cities4:184Stepping Sideways3:455A Delicate Romance7:156Linger1:597Curtains Blowing3:078Weather Patterns1:509Coming Into Focus5:0310After All This Time6:5511Someone Almost There1:3412Resonant Frequency2:4513Avenue of Trees1:1614Underwater Flowers6:0515Arriving1:262003 · studio album
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Tracklist · 10 tracks · 39:04
1Bell Tower2:012Campanile3:453The Rose3:264Stones2:565Her Face3:296Children’s Game Beyond Our Reach2:107The Avenue3:198Bird Charmer2:579Other Flowers4:0610Il Leopardo Delle Nevi10:552005 · studio album
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Tracklist · 15 tracks · 1:55:31
Disc 11Arabesque 32:402It’s Steeper Near the Roses (For David Sylvian)1:023L’enfant perdu2:154Chrysalis Nu (To Barney’s Memory)2:005Three Faces West (Billy Al Bengston’s)2:506Arabesque 23:027Little Heart7:418How Vacantly You Stare at Me4:019A Walk in the Park With Nancy (In Memory)5:5510Rue Casimir Delavigne (For Daniel Lentz)5:2911Arabesque 11:5612Porcelain Ginger2:0113Faraon1:2314As Long as I Can Hold My Breath3:48Disc 21As Long as I Can Hold My Breath (By Night)1:09:28Music for ‘Fragments From the Inside’
2005 · studio album
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Tracklist · 7 tracks · 1:15:17
1One8:122Two8:333Three9:414Four8:565Five8:296Six11:097Seven20:172007 · studio album
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Tracklist · 13 tracks · 1:13:20
1Templar9:322Tong War5:423Quadari16:554Vari4:525Nec Spero2:036Moss Landing4:417Chualar2:238Atl Atl2:549Nec Metus8:1010Drita2:3611Monument4:5312Reini7:1513Ghost Cloud1:242007 · studio album
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Tracklist · 9 tracks · 38:23
1How Distant Your Heart4:042Avenue of Shapes3:283Seven Thousand Sunny Years6:194She Is My Strength2:535Inside, a Golden Echo3:256Open Book5:177And Then I Turned Away3:318The Girl With Colorful Thoughts4:279Turn Off the Sun4:592007 · studio album
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Tracklist · 9 tracks · 43:04
1How Close Your Soul7:372A Formless Path4:233A Minute, a Day, No More5:214She Is My Weakness3:415Outside, Silence4:256Hidden Message4:497I Returned Her Glance3:438My Monochrome Vision4:449Turn On the Moon4:212008 · studio album
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Tracklist · 7 tracks · 1:14:51
1Pensive Aphrodite32:172A Song for Lost Blossoms4:423Forever Hold My Breath9:534At This Moment6:465Of Many Mirrors4:246The Saint of Whispers9:477Blind Flowers7:022009 · studio album
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Tracklist · 12 tracks · 52:08
1Sunday After the War3:522Exit Plan (Perfume)3:213On Ships That Sail Away3:374Eaux d’artifice6:065Beautiful Intruder5:016Candylion5:427Ribbons Everywhere3:358The Bells5:229She Slipped Through the Door5:1310Mlle. Ice4:2911Orange Portals3:3712In the Midst of Life2:132010 · studio album
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Tracklist · 9 tracks · 49:29
1Plumade3:142Prelucid4:433Procession of Moons8:104Queen of Cydonia7:055Numismatic3:386Drifting Cities5:267Tong War5:238Sweet Earth Flying6:309Damask, Then5:20Nighthawks, Translucence and Drift Music
2011 · studio album
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Tracklist · 37 tracks · 2:22:06
Disc 11Down A Windy Street5:262Now That I've Forgotten You3:213The Invisible Man5:274Fugitive Desire2:435From Then To Now4:236When The City Stops For Snow5:137The Shadow Of Her Former Self4:138Music For Swimmers5:499Lovedust2:2110Nighthawks2:55Disc 21Subtext6:002Spoken Roses6:203Momentary Architecture1:404Adult3:045Long Light3:546A Change in the Weather2:427Here and Now3:598Almost Overlooked2:319Implicit5:2610Raindust7:0911Missing Person1:3612You Again3:24Disc 31Sunlit Silhouette3:152The Other Room1:573Some Way Through All the Cities4:184Stepping Sideways3:455A Delicate Romance7:156Linger1:597Curtains Blowing3:078Weather Patterns1:509Coming Into Focus5:0310After All This Time6:5511Someone Almost There1:3412Resonant Frequency2:4513Avenue of Trees1:1614Underwater Flowers6:0515Arriving1:262011 · studio album
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Tracklist · 9 tracks · 48:24
1Gaze3:422Deva C3:513The Names of Those Never Here4:264So Many Short Years Ago3:435The Belles of Saint Andrew3:436Radiant City4:537L’Aventure7:068Smiling Apart7:009Southern Shore10:002011 · studio album
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Tracklist · 13 tracks · 45:03
1Haru Spring4:422The Whispers2:433The Startled2:184The Foundry (For Mika Vainio)4:455The Art of Mirrors (After Derek Jarman)5:586Three-Fingered Jack2:477Greek George5:508Black Bart3:119Come Back to Me in Dreams2:0310Parallel Night3:3411Sun at 6 Windows3:0912The Panther of Small Favors2:1713Mars and the Artist (After Cy Twombly)1:462011 · studio album
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Tracklist · 10 tracks · 47:23
1Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You4:542Losing My Breath4:043Winter Garden4:464Entangled4:195Harmony and the Play of Light5:346Heavy Heart Some More4:467White Ceramic3:018Stay With Me5:209South of Heaven6:4510Dream On3:542012 · studio album
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Tracklist · 14 tracks · 44:54
1Merry-Go-Round: The Dream of the Girl at the Lonely Desert Cafe2:012Merry-Go-Round: Claude Lorrain Avoids the Cinder Block Motel2:553Merry-Go-Round: Nicolas Poussin Near 29 Palms2:294Merry-Go-Round: Perfume Doesn't Dance3:025Merry-Go-Round: Shout (for Jane Maru)4:226Merry-Go-Round: The Moss of Imagination4:107Merry-Go-Round: Purvis Startled by Joy1:588Merry-Go-Round: Seven Colonnades5:459Merry-Go-Round: Veil of Orpheus (Cy Twombly's)7:1910String Quartet 2003: Haru Spring1:5111String Quartet 2003: From the Sea of Changes3:0112String Quartet 2003: Bandits of Stature2:4513String Quartet 2003: Llano1:4914String Quartet 2003: Babylon Balboa1:272013 · studio album
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Tracklist · 11 tracks · 59:18
1Jane 17:472Jane 24:573Jane 35:064Jane 45:455Jane 54:086Jane 65:097Jane 75:038Jane 85:199Jane 92:2810Jane 108:4511Jane 114:512014 · studio album
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Tracklist · 10 tracks · 38:31
1Jane 126:332Jane 135:203Jane 143:054Jane 152:475Jane 16 (For Pale Saints)3:256Jane 172:277Jane 182:468Jane 194:519Jane 204:2910Jane 212:482020 · studio album
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Tracklist · 9 tracks · 42:09
1Some Smoke5:582Perfect Fire6:043Coral4:274November Day3:555After Dark4:366Pleasant, If Not a Little Deadly5:087Harlequin Delight5:468Very Slender Homage2:489Beau, as in Beaumont3:27
EP · 3
| Cover | Year | Title | Notes | First release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | The Serpent (In Quicksilver)Search SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 6 tracks · 19:37A1Afar2:28 A2Wanderer4:10 A3Rub With Ashes1:55 B1Children on the Hill5:09 B2Widows Charm1:56 B3The Serpent (In Quicksilver)3:59 | 1981 | ||
| 2002 | Three White Roses & A BuddSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 4 tracks · 26:301No Shade, No Shadow10:55 2Adrift Amidst les Odalisques6:58 3The Airless Time4:12 4Blue Locus4:25 | 2002 | ||
| 2014 | RemixesSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 3 tracks · 29:28A1Mandan (patten version)4:38 A1Feral (Odd Nosdam version)4:41 B1Dark Star (Personable version - edit)20:09 | Remix | May 2014 |
Album · 11
| Cover | Year | Title | Notes | First release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Myths 3 : La nouvelle sérénitéSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 5 tracks · 41:251Map of Dusk10:50 2Cartago Sand Dancing6:10 3Strange Thunder3:15 4Sketch for Sub Rosa10:40 58 Perspectives Romanes10:30 | Compilation | 1987 | |
| 1989 | The Serpent (In Quicksilver) / Abandoned CitiesSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 8 tracks · 1:03:101Afar2:36 2Wanderer4:16 3Rub With Ashes1:59 4Children on the Hill5:12 5Windows Charm1:59 6The Serpent (In Quicksilver)4:03 7Dark Star19:57 8Abandoned Cities23:08 | Compilation | 1989 | |
| 1995 | AguaSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 8 tracks · 52:421White Arcades4:46 2Real Dream of Sails10:48 3Color7:14 4The Pearl2:50 5Algebra3:06 6Plateaux6:52 7Coyote3:58 8Agua13:08 | Live | 1995 | |
| 1996 | Glyph RemixesSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 5 tracks · 33:59A1The Light Gave Us Away (House mix by Herbert)5:16 A2Pandas in Tandem (Phume remix)7:23 B1As Far as I Could Look Away She Was Still There (original version)5:14 B2The Light Gave Us Away (Deep mix by Herbert)8:01 B3And Then She Stepped Aside (Solid Doctor remix)8:05 | Remix | 1996 | |
| 1998 | Fenceless Night: Selections for Cinema 1980-1998Search SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 18 tracks · 1:10:481First Light (edit)4:34 2Boy About 104:59 3She Dances by the Light of the Silvery Moon2:12 4Pandas in Tandem5:49 5Sea, Swallow Me3:10 6Why Do You Love Me?4:52 7Algebra of Darkness6:32 8Balthus Bemused by Color5:17 9Niki D.6:29 10A Sidelong Glance From My Round Nefertiti3:13 11Through the Hill4:06 12Bearded Aphrodite2:39 13The Gunfighter3:13 14Afar2:30 15The Room of Secondary Light4:38 16Their Memories2:54 17The Aperture (edit)3:09 18Wings0:32 | Compilation | 1998 | |
| 1999 | The Oak of the Golden DreamsSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 6 tracks · 1:06:481Pastoral Symphony4:04 2Bacchanale8:15 3Piano Concert for David Tudor12:30 4Amazing Grace3:27 5The Oak of the Golden Dreams18:45 6Coeur d’orr19:47 | Compilation | 24 August 1999 | |
| 2005 | Mysterious SkinSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 15 tracks · 45:071Neil’s Theme2:15 2The Memories Returning2:08 3Snowfall6:30 4Neil’s Farewell2:32 5Childhood Lost2:38 6Halloween3:19 7A Silhouette Approaches2:29 8Goodbye to Wendy2:46 9Brian’s Nightmare / The Unknown, Part One4:04 10Twilight3:47 11The Unknown, Part Two2:11 12The Discovery2:27 13Loitering3:38 14The Writing on the Wall1:51 15One True Love2:32 | Soundtrack | 24 May 2005 | |
| 2013 | Wind in Lonely Fences: 1970–2011Search SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 18 tracks · 1:52:001The Oak of the Golden Dreams18:39 2Bismillahi 'Rrahman 'Rrahim18:20 3Wind in Lonely Fences3:59 4Wanderer4:14 5Dark Star19:56 6The Pearl3:09 7Ooze Out and Away, Onehow3:43 8Ice Floes in Eden3:25 9Algebra of Darkness6:33 10A Child in a Sylvan Field3:34 11The Messenger3:06 12Hand 203:02 13She's by the Window2:23 14Nove Alberi5:58 15Adult3:04 16Arabesque 23:00 17How Distant Your Heart4:06 18Mars and the Artist1:49 | Compilation | 25 November 2013 | |
| 2013 | Budd BoxSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 57 tracks · 4:03:551Afar2:35 2Wanderer4:16 3Rub With Ashes2:03 4Children On The Hill5:12 5Widows Charm1:59 6The Serpent (in Quicksilver)4:07 7Dark Star20:01 8Abandoned Cities23:11 9The White Arcades4:44 10Balthus Bemused By Color5:17 11The Child With A Lion6:39 12The Real Dream Of Sails6:08 13Algebra Of Darkness6:33 14Totems Of The Red-Sleeved Warrior3:24 15The Room3:07 16Coyote2:46 17The Kiss3:17 18Poem: Aztec Hotel1:34 19Boy About 105:00 20Arcadia2:01 21Dead Horse Alive With Flies3:41 22The Photo Of Santiago Mckinn6:56 23The Corpse At The Shooting Gallery2:57 24Albion Farewell (homage To Delius For Gavin Bryars)2:39 25Poem: Distant Lights Of Olancha Recede1:28 26Down The Slopes To The Meadow7:39 27She Dances By The Light Of The Silvery Moon2:13 28Blind Bird2:04 29Saint's Name Spoken3:59 30The Place Of Dead Roads4:50 31A Child In A Sylvan Field3:37 32Poem: Boy About 101:19 33Poem: Wings0:37 34Poem: No Name0:55 35Poem: Advent0:49 36Harold Budd & Ruben Garcia & Daniel Lentz - Pulse Pause Repeat4:16 37Harold Budd & Ruben Garcia & Daniel Lentz - La Muchacha De Los Suenos Dorados4:38 38Harold Budd & Ruben Garcia & Daniel Lentz - Iris2:38 39Harold Budd & Ruben Garcia & Daniel Lentz - Somos Tres2:33 40Harold Budd & Ruben Garcia & Daniel Lentz - The Messenger3:06 41Harold Budd & Ruben Garcia & Daniel Lentz - La Casa Bruja4:38 42Niki D6:30 43A Sidelong Glance From My Round Nefertiti3:13 44Agnes Martin3:52 45Anish Kapoor2:59 46Paul Mccarthy7:14 47Serge Poliakoff3:08 48Djinn0:50 49Porphyry0:45 50How Dark The Response To Our Slipping Away0:48 51Nove Alberi6:00 52Chet7:13 53Mandan3:40 54Feral4:11 55Grace5:18 56Marion Brown (Sweet Earth Flying)2:51 57Steven Brown (Pleasure)3:57 | Compilation | 9 December 2013 | |
| 2014 | White Bird in a BlizzardSearch SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 12 tracks · 41:121Visions of Eve2:39 2Brock’s Theme2:46 3The Radiant Bride3:41 4Curious3:21 5Forever Changed4:05 6The Affair3:48 7You Know the Combination3:48 8Without a Trace3:01 9Lament for Eve4:11 10The Drive3:41 11I’m Here, Kat, I’m Here3:00 12White Bird3:11 | Soundtrack | October 2014 | |
| 2020 | I Know This Much Is True (Music From The HBO Series)Search SpotifySearch YouTube MusicTracklist · 14 tracks · 47:181Penny Ann Drinkwater2:26 2The Serpent (In Quicksilver)4:06 3Give Me Your Hand2:28 4The Twins3:22 5The Kiss3:17 6In America1:25 7Angela1:46 8To The Falls9:16 9Domenico1:56 10That Place For Lunatics1:49 11Yellow2:11 12A Sidelong Glance From My Round Nerfertiti3:12 13Three Rivers2:25 14Down The Slopes To The Meadow7:39 | Soundtrack | 13 June 2020 |
Stats & PK
Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Harold Budd head-to-head →
| Metric | Value | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia language versions | 21 | 82.6th |
| Spotify monthly listeners | — | no data |
| Release groups in DB | 46 | 93.7th |
| Studio albums | 32 | 98.4th |
| Awards recorded | 0 | 0th |
| Timeline events | 35 | 97.5th |
| Recording span (years) | 49 | 90th |
| Genres | 8 | 94.5th |
Awards & honours
Where this record comes from
portrait—Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harold_Budd_%28cropped%29.jpgaliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/5c864a6f-146e-4225-986d-3295ce90f784discography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/5c864a6f-146e-4225-986d-3295ce90f784core—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q728029genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q728029seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Buddbiography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Budd
Why this artist is in the database
- List of composers by name
Tier rule: curated genre/region list
Image: Masao Nakagami · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata: Q728029 · MusicBrainz: 5c864a6f-146e-4225-986d-3295ce90f784
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